Former accountant Park Yu ‘Sparrow’ Cheung will go down in the record books for having the most number of tournament cashes in a year. The Hong Kong player had an amazing run at the 2017 Asia Championship of Poker (ACOP) which took place in October in Macau. Cheung had 7 cashes during the tournament and boosted his total cashes in 2017 to 62, creating a new record.
Cheung broke the previous best set by John Zentner who had 56 cashes in 2013, according to the live tournament database obtained from the Hendon Mob.
Before the ACOP tournament could commence, Cheung lagged behind Zentner by just one cash-out. After his phenomenal run in Macau, Cheung has the opportunity to push the number of cashes even higher as there is still two months left till the end of the year.
In addition to his record-breaking feat, Cheung finished 3rd during the HK$11,000 Six-Handed Championship, which earned him around HK$109, 200 ($13,987). This pushed his total live tournament winnings to over $1 million at $1,029,442. A significant portion Cheung’s earnings from the 62 cashes amounting to $300,000 was won during the ACOP. The rest of his cashes come from tournaments spread across the Philippines, Australia, South Korea, and Las Vegas.
Lagging behind Cheung’s record is Taiwan’s Pete Yen Han Chen’s 54 cashes. With the looks of it, Chen might soon overcome Zentner’s record of 56 before the end of this year. Both Cheung and Chen were aiming to beat Zentner’s record in 2016 and Cheung has managed to accomplish that goal in 2017.
Previously working as a CPA, Cheung decided to leave his accountant post when he realized that he had been making more money by winning at poker. He has played as a full time poker pro for the last seven years and has been pretty consistent at cashing out over the years. His largest cash ever was at the HK$50,000 ($6,434) Macau Poker Cup 26 in February, topping 101 entries to take home HK$981,500 ($126,503).
Cheung currently heads the Hong Kong Poker Players Association (HKKPA) which he put up with fellow pokers Alan King Lun Lau, Stephen Lai, Jason Lo, and Ray Chiu. Aimed at promoting poker in Hong Kong, HKPPA has already over 1,000 members around the world to date. The HKKPA regularly holds free tournaments and provides instructions to new poker players to help promote the game in HK. The HKPPA accepts poker players from all across the world.
